(TAN): Tourist arrivals in Hong Kong sank to a new low in February amid the coronavirus pandemic, reports said.
Hong Kong Tourism Board’s (HKTB) statistics showed visitor arrivals for last month slumped over 96% to 199,000 compared to the same period last year, as per reports. In 2019, an average of 199,000 people arrived in Hong Kong daily during the peak season, reports said.
“The whole month’s visitor arrivals only account for a day’s total in the first half of last year, which shows how dire the situation is,” Tourism Board executive director Dane Cheng Ting-yat was quoted by South China Morning Post as saying.
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Average number of visitors coming to Hong Kong per day varied between 10,000 and 20,000 before the government shut borders on February 8 to control the spread of the disease, as per reports. Daily arrivals dropped to 3,300 after February 8, of which only 20% were mainland Chinese visitors, reports said. Earlier, mainland Chinese visitors reportedly constituted 80% of all Hong Kong’s arrivals.
Until now, 47 countries and jurisdictions have issued advisories against travel to mainland China, of which 28 constitute Hong Kong.
Cheng reportedly said the latest numbers show tourism-related industries have suffered a huge blow.
“We will roll out plans to support industry stakeholders,” South China Morning Post quoted him as saying.
Cheng said HKTB will provide funding worth HKD 400 million (USD 51.50 million approximately) towards supporting trade and industry stakeholders including travel agents, hotels and hospitality providers, airlines, retailers, food and beverage firms and cruise operators, as per reports. This year, proposed funding in KHTB’s budget reportedly is around HKD 1.1 billion.
The measures will also include waiving participation fees for over 40 trade activities organised by HKTB, subsidising Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions organisers’ proposal for large-scale conventions and exhibitions, and offering subsidies to retail and catering sectors, according to reports.
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In addition to relief initiatives, the government will reportedly roll out a Retail Sector Subsidy Scheme on March 23 to provide support to retailers.
The HKD 5.6 billion scheme that comes under the Anti-epidemic Fund, will help nearly 70,000 retailers, reports said.
